Air Britain Airline Fleets

Background

Following Bucher and Klee's first edition of 'JP Markings' (predecessor to JP Airline Fleets) published in 1966, J. H. Richardson headed up a team at Air Britain to produce that organisation's first Airline Fleet Book the following year.

Fleet Operators Europe / North American Airline Fleets / Fleet Operators 1967-1975

FLEET OPERATORS EUROPE

The 1967 first edition of 'Fleet Operators to be seen in Europe - Their Aircraft and Registrations' was seen as a significant step forward in Air Britain's monograph programme, filling a long-neglected gap in their range. The first edition was produced with two different covers, the first version with Air Britain's standard (at the time) light blue and white cover, the second with a dark pink header background and white titles with a black and white photo of JA8021, a Japan Airlines Covair CV-880 beneath it.

Unlike the early 'JP' version, Air Britain's volume had an additional element of interest for the enthusiast as it included a number of Air Taxi Operators and Flight Training Centres, although these were rather more 'selective' than comprehensive, with particular emphasis on UK-based companies. An example of the former is 'Gregory Air Services' based at Denham, who feature in one of the famous 'Look at Life' film episodes created for UK cinemas by The Rank Orgnistaion in the 1960s. In 1967, Gregory Air Services operated a Dakota, an Aero Commander 500A, two Aztecs, four Twin Comanches, five Cherokees, a Tri-Pacer and a Beagle Terrier. An example of the latter is the fleet of Cherokees, Chipmunks and Apaches operated by the College of Air Training.

Each airline was presented alphabetically within the country's ICAO code (nationality prefix) and within the individual airline, the fleets of registration numbers were listed under aircraft type with four columns of data below. These listed Registration Number, Mark, Construction Number and Aircraft Name (where relevant). The presentation of the fleet data by aircraft was prioritised in the following order (first to last): turbojet - turboprop - piston engined - helicopter, with the greater number of engines taking priority and in order of decreasing gross weight.

The annual publication of Air Britain's 'Fleet Operators Europe' continued unbroken from 1967 to 1970, with an additional one-off volume covering 'North American Airline Fleets - First and Second Level' published in 1969. 

NORTH AMERICAN AIRLINE FLEETS

'North American Airline Fleets' was produced on good quality shiny gloss paper and covered both Canada and the USA. For the United States, the fleets were presented of those airlines that came under the jurisdiction of the Civil Aeronautics Board. This comprised all airlines operating inter-state services with aircraft of gross weight of 12,000 lbs or more, as well as supplemental carriers with large aircraft. Canada followed a similar criteria, but the division between first and second level operators was rather more arbitrary.

Fleet data presentation was arramged in the same way as 'Fleet Operators Europe' detailed above. 

In the introduction, the authors mention their intention of producing a companion volume giving the fleets of all third level carriers in the US and Canada, but research to date indicates that this was never published.

A major difference between Air Britain's 'Fleet Operators' volumes and the single edition of 'North American Airline Fleets' is that the North America volume included brief airline histories. 'North American Airline Fleets' also included summaries of orders and options for the Boeing 747 and Boeing 2707 SST at the end of the main fleet lists, both types of which were yet to enter service in early 1969. Interestingly, despite its ultimate cancellation, the Boeing SST had three options placed by Northwest, twelve by TWA and fifteen by Pan Am, Information for these airlines also showed that they had Concorde options in place for three, six and eight respectively.

FLEET OPERATORS

In 1971, a break was taken by Air Britain to re-evaluate the two titles and in 1972, instead of continuing their individual volumes covering Europe and North America, they returned with a worlwide title named simply 'Fleet Operators' which was the true precursor to what is now known today as 'Airline Fleets.'

All three of the above titles included a good selection of monochrome photos of typical airliners from the fleets featured, with many taken by J. Gradidge, famous in later life for her three-volume epic on the DC-3, also published by Air Britain.

Front cover images and full publishing details of all nine editions in the Fleet Operators/North American Airlines series published between 1967 and 1975 can be viewed in the first scrolling gallery below.

World Airline Fleets Handbook 1976-1979

Probably with the aircraft spotter firmly in mind rather than the general enthusiast, from 1976 Air Britain shrank their annual Airline Fleetbook size from 6.5" x 8" to 4.25" x 6.75", making it a truly pocket-sized publication and at the same time re-named it 'World Airline Fleets Handbook.' This title was remarkably similar to the Airline Publications' title 'World Airline Fleets' first published in 1977, although the latter was a bigger book and included airline logos and brief airline histories.

The fleet presentation followed the same format as the earlier 'Fleet Operators' books but from 1976 the most recent previous identities where known were added to the individual aircraft data line.

From 1976, Air Britain also began offering alternative bindings and this continued into the 'Airline Fleets' title era described later until at least 1996. It is not clear whether or not all three binding options were available to purchasers every single year, but the alternatives were wire bound, comb bound, softback block bound (or standard hardback in the larger sized 'Airline Fleets' era).

The late 1970s editions of Air Britain's 'Airline Fleets' publication (World Airline Fleets Handbook) continued offering black and white photos of examples of airliners included in the fleet lists, which had been a consistent feature since the early days. The number of photo pages, however, varied between editions. The 1976 edition featured eight pages, the 1977 & 78 sixteen and the 1979 edition twenty.

Front cover images and full publishing details of the four editions of Air Britain's 'World Airline Fleets Handbook' published between 1976 and 1979 can be viewed in the second scrolling gallery below.

AIRLINE FLEETS 1980-2025

In 1980, the first edition of what was to become the final iteration of Air Britain's annual reference book covering the fleets of the world's airlines was published with the title 'Airline Fleets' and this release continues to this day, being one of the organisations foremost annual listings of aircraft data for the enthusiast and historian.

With the publication of the first edition of 'Airline Fleets' came a major restructuring of the data presentation. The coverage was enlarged to include the major US third level airlines and a single set of data columns per page was employed throughout with the exception of Aeroflot and a few of the large US trunk airlines.

Countries were listed in alphabetical order of nationality prefix. The airlines in each country were also listed in alphabetical order with the airline's two-letter designator appearing after the title and the IATA code appearing after the airline's base. Fleets were mainly listed in alphabetical order of aircraft type except for small mixed fleets which were in registration order. The immediate previous identity appeared after the construction number. Generally speaking only aircraft of Beech 99 size or larger were included in the fleet lists.

The title began as a pocket-sized book following the same format as the 'World Airline Fleets Handbook.' The excuse used to explain why all photos would henceforth be dispensed with, was that the book's small size no longer did them justice (although apparently the decision was reached with great reluctance!). 

The size of the book (both in physical dimensions and number of pages) gradually increased over the decades, the dimensions first becoming notably taller and slightly wider in 1987 and finally settling down to approximately 6" x 8.5" in 1993, where it has remained ever since. These days, the title is also only produced as a hardback which is believed to have been the case since around 1994, although the softback/wire bound option may have continued for a few years subsequent to that date.

Air Britain's 'Airline Fleets' publication has experienced a long metamorphosis over the 45 years of it's existence and below is a summary of the main changes that have occurred during the title's gestation to date (by decade):

1980s Content Development

1981 added the fleet of Bristow Helicopters. With the publication of the 1982 edition, coverage was extended to include many of the world's third level and helicopter fleets. Classification of fixed wing aircraft was changed from 'Beech 99 size' to 'aircraft of about 3000kg takeoff weight and above,' with helicopters of Bell 214 size and larger included. 1983 saw more of the world's third level fleets included plus fleets of air tanker/sprayer operators in the USA, Canada, Chile and France included for the first time, many of them also operating freight services. 1984 included Beaver, Beech 18 and Cessna 207 entries in North America and the size of helicopters included was reduced further to the Bell 206. 1986 featured aircraft down to the size of the Cessna 185. It also included what was believed to be the first ever listing of the fleets of the major leasing companies as well as a listing of those civil-registered jet airliners in non-airline use. The next development in the title's expansion was in 1988, when the size of fixed-wing aircraft included was reduced further to 1500KG MTOW plus details of code-sharing agreements in North America and Europe. First Service Dates of new start-ups were also included for the first time. The final 1980s development occurred in 1989, when aircraft size was reduced further to the Cessna 180/Piper Cherokee Six and civil registered turboprop airliners in non-airline use and jet and turboprop aircraft in transit between owners were included.

1990s Content Development

The 1990s kicked off with the first edition of the decade cross-referencing American Eagle, Continental Express and United Express with the individual feeder carriers. 1991 added an index of three-letter designators for airports mentioned in the text. 1992 introduced anticipated delivery dates after the 'on order' comment, where these were known. 1993 was the first volume to be produced in A5 size. In 1994, Northwest Airlink and USAir Express were added to the individual feeder carrier cross-reference. TheAeroflot section was also updated to include the registration prefix changes from CCCP to RA with the actual registrations remaining in strict numerical sequence for ease of reference. Other operators in the former Soviet Union were also listed seperately in the Russia section or under their newly-created countries. Where, at that stage, countries had no confirmed registration prefix, they were positioned at the end of the main fleet list section. In 1997, fleet lists of Major Leasing Companies were discontinued as accurate information had become increasingly difficult to verify. The final development of the decade was the addition of 'Virtual Airlines' where an operator held an operator's licence and had a two or three letter code but no aircraft, but leased in as required.

2000s Content Development

2000 to 2009

The Noughties began with the 2000 edition adding McDonnell Douglas and Boeing Line Numbers in front of the relevant Construction Numbers. Stored ex-Airline aircraft were removed from 'Airlines in non-airline use' as this information had become difficult to keep track of. 2001 saw the removal of carriers operating mainly non-commercial or VIP services. In 2002, it was decided to list Continental Airlines aircraft by Fleet number within the aircraft type. Also, included for the first time was ICAO allocated call signs and a full review of IATA and ICAO codes, plus the type of hush-kit fitted to non-compliant Stage 2 and Stage 3 aircraft. In 2003, abbreviated information for the provinces of Canada, Australia and Brazil were included in the Airline location details. 2004 added airlines whose fleets had been deleted that year, along with the reason, in the main text.

2009 was the next year where notable changes occurred, but these were primarily concerned with the book's layout, these changes saving around 10% of the total pages, when compared with the size of the previous edition. 

2010 to 2019

The new Editor (from 2009) reviewed the content again for 2010 and concluded that it had become too difficult to present an accurate view of orders outstanding and expected deliverey schedules. All notes about outstanding orders were therefore removed, but those expected to be made in the next year were taken into account in the body of the fleets' listings, space being made available for the reader to add the details as aircraft were delivered. Pete Webber's final editorship in 2011 saw the introduction of the black diamond symbol to indicate a change to the entry of an aircraft since the previous edition. In 2012, alternative names used by some operators began to be included in both the main text and the operator index. 2013 saw the addition of a summary of the current situation regarding the various airline alliances, with their affiliates. The following year, a decode of Airbus sub-types and engine codes was included. The next change of note was when the 2018 edition was published with a redesigned letter font being used on the book's spine titles and this has been continued with subsequent editions.

2020 to 2025

The 2020 edition rounded out at exactly 800 pages so the blank 'notes' pages were dispensed with to keep production costs down. However in 2021, these returned with the extension to 816 pages. Subsequent editions have varied depending on the number of page blocks incorporated. In 2025, owing to the maximum page length that could readily be used without the binding failing beyond 12 months' use being reached, it was decided to remove the helicopter operators to a Supplement available at the Digital Archive section of Air Britain Publications.

IMAGES AND INDUSTRY SUMMARIES

Front cover images and full publishing details of all editions of Air Britain's 'Airline Fleets' publications since 1980 can be viewed in the third scrolling gallery below. This section will be updated annually going forward as each new edition is published:

A notable feature of the 'Airline Fleets' title since 2000 is the airline industry summary for the previous year presented at the front of each new edition, which is an added bonus for the Airline Historian who has an interest in the industry as a whole, as well as the specific details of the fleets themselves. This began as just a few lines in 2000 but since 2002 (after the September 11th terrorist attacks of 2001) a much broader review has been included.

Details (by year) of the main features of these industry summaries can be viewed in the fourth and final section below.

(THE INFORMATION FOR EACH YEAR BELOW REFERS TO MAIN EVENTS OCCURRING THE PREVIOUS YEAR AS LAID OUT IN THE INTRODUCTION OF THE EDITION CONCERNED BUT IN CONDENSED FORM).

2000

The milestones of the final deliveries of the Boeing 737 Classic and MD-80 were noted as well as the manufacture of a record number of large jet airliners.

2001

Mention was made of the prospect of various major airline mergers in the USA and the hoped-for prospect of Concorde re-entering service following the accident the previous year. 

2002

A review of the knock-on effects to the industry of the 9/11 terrorist attacks were looked at in detail. This included the removal of a large number of airframes from the book, with 1100 airliners and 600 regional & corporate airliners going into storage. Large American airlines had put their fleets of Boeing 727s into storage, together with large numbers of 737-200s and Douglas DC-9s being expected to be reduced to spares. The US majors were expected to make a combined loss of several billion dollars with no return to profitability anticipated for three or four years. Concorde had returned to service with fuel tank modifications and the Airbus A340-500 and 600 togrether with the Airbus A318 were expected to shortly start their certification processes, The Avro RJX project had been scrapped but the Boeing 717 had received a reprieve. Major airlines such as Sabena and Ansett had gone under as had a number of smaller airlines.

2003

We received information on airlines that were struggling to make money (with some exceptions such a Southwest), details of those that had entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and marketing agreements between vaious airlines. Consolidation in China was covered as was the introduction of common colours for airlines in the TUI group. Fairchild Dornier filed for insolvency and Embraer opened a new factory in China for the ERJ-145 family. Airbus had cut the first metal for the A380. The USAF had ordered 100 Boeing 767 Tanker/transport aircraft.

2004

It was felt that the world's airlines may have turned the corner in terms of recovery post 9/11 but the gratest benefactors were expected to be those operating international services rather than short haul and low cost operators. Air France and KLM had linked up. Regulators had prevented Qantas from purchasing a bigger stake in Air New Zealand. The safety of aviation in Africa was discussed with 28% of all fatal accidents the previous year occurring on that continent. Russian authorities were putting pressure on their airlines to merge to form larger concerns, but on the whole this was falling on deaf ears. TU-134s and 154s were banned from Europe, but high import duties into Russia remained on western-built airliners. Airbus delivered more aircraft than Boeing for the first time and the last Boeing 757 was due to roll off the production line later that year. The final Concorde service had landed in October 2003 and the Embraer 190 would shortly enter service.

2005

Higher fuel prices had led to lower profits in 2004 than in 2003, notably among the low-cost carriers Ryanair and Southwest. US major carriers continued to struggle financially. Olympic was under investigation and Swiss had cut back regional services. In Asia there had been a rise in low cost carriers, notably in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. China was expected to be the next major growth area. Africa remained dangerous with 40% of the year's fatalities occurring there. Some Russian airlines had begun operating western-built airliners but registering them in Bermuda to avoid import taxes. In January, 2005 the first Airbus A380 was rolled out. The final (1050th) Boeing 757 rolled off the production line, the closue of the Boeing 717 production line was announced. Orders for the Boeing 787 were gaining momentum.

2006

High fuel prices and the dangers of flying in Africa (notably Nigeria) were subjects for discussion, as was the continued struggle of US majors to make ends meet. GOL was continuing to expand in Brazil with their new 737s having improved short field capability. Swiss International became fully owned by Lufthansa. Rapid expansion was occurring in India and Qantas was looking for aircraft to enable it to fly from London to Sydney non-stop. Etihad joined the the Gulf Majors and Emirates declared its intention to become the largest airline in the world. The A380 had made its first flight on 27th April, 2005 and the Boeing 747/8 had been launched.

2007

The main news was that the Airbus A380 had failed to enter service the previous year. The delay had led to Federal Express cancelling their orders for the proposed freighter version and switching to the Boeing 777F. Airbus made a financial loss for the year, although they announced the launch of the Airbus A350XWB to compete with the Boeing 787. Airlines had breathed a sigh of relief as fuel prices had dropped from $80 to a more tolerable $55 per barrel. The CIS states had suffered several serious accidents. VARIG in Brazil went into judical restructuring and was ultimately split between Flex Linhas Aereas and GOL. Flybe became the first airline to operate the Embraer 195 and the Greek government was fined by the European Union for providing illegal subsidies to Olympic. TUI decided to consolidate all their aviation activities into one operation-TUIFly. In India, the announcement of the merger between Air India and Indian Airlines was made.

2008

The news of the Airbus A380 finally entering service headed up this year's introduction and we learned details of the aircraft's daily utilisation and also news of the final delivery of a new-build Airbus A300F to Federal Express. Early evidence of what later became major supplier issues for Boeing was mentioned due to the use of non-airworthy fasteners in their newly-rolled out Boeing 787, components which then had to be replaced.  Boeing had a record year for sales with 1,413 net orders. Despite fuel prices still being high, many airlines, including US majors, reported profits. Hull losses increased but the number of airliner fatalities dropped to 687, notably lower than the ten-year average of 864. The EU and USA finalised their open skies agreement. Details of developments in the Middle East and Asia were also covered.

2009

The airline industry had suffered a few notable bunkruptcies and Boeing had experienced deferred deliveries and order cancellations. The credit crunch and fuel prices had seen some cancelled orders for the 787, which was still experiencing technical issues and a delayed first flight. This was compounded by a strike at Boeing in the Autumn of 2008. The Airbus A380 had settled into service but orders had been slow in coming, with a number deferred. Notably, Regional Jets and Props were seeing some success, particularly those built by Embraer and Bombardier. Older jets such as MD-80s and 737 300s were increasingly being parked up or finding homes with previous Soviet-block airlines. Older Business Jet versions were also being replaced increasingly with Boeing BBJs and Airbus ACJs.

2010

Movements in and out of Airliner Storage Facilities had demanded much work from the editor and his team in preparation for this edition, but he felt that the first small signs of recovery in the health of the world's airlines had nevertheless become apparent. Delta and Northwest had completed their merger. Airbus delivered its 6000th aircraft and the first flight of their A400 had occurred in December 2009. The A320 family continued to sell well, with redesigned tall winglets to be offered in the coming year. The A330 was also benefiting from the delays in the availability of the 787 and A350 and the A340 had been reduced to 'Special Order Only' status. The A380 was established in service, albeit with slow production rates and the Boeing 787 had finally flown with expected entry into service in 2010. The 737 production line continued unabated with a good secondhand market being found in the former Soviet states. The 777 line remained strong while the 747 series 400 production line had completed and the series 800 was due to fly shortly. The manufacture of the 767 was continuing slowly in anticipation of a further USAF tanker order. The Embraer 170/190 was seeing strong sales and production of the Canadair Regional Jet was ticking over. In Russia the AN-148 had entered service and in China the ARJ21 had flown.

2011

Major developments highlighted in this edition were the formation of United Airlines as a 'Mega Carrier' being joined by Continental in a merger. Airbus booked its 10,000th order. First orders were placed for the A320NEO. First delivery of the Boeing 787 was now expected to occur in 2011 due to ongoing issues, as was first delivery of the Boeing 747 series 800. Bombardier introduced the CRJ1000 into service and in Russia the Sukhoi Superjet had been certified with first deliveries expected at any time. Older Soviet aircraft were fast becoming rare sights at the world's international airports, even those in Russia itself.

2012

The Airbus A330 was continuing to benefit from delays in Boeing 787 and A350 deliveries, although Boeing had finally begun deliveries of the 787 and 747 series 800. The 1000th Boeing 767 was delivered and 777 sales remained strong. Boeing were still researching the possibility of new engines for the Boeing 737. Embraer's 170 and 190 continued to sell well with most ERJ145s now being produced as Legacy Business Jets and Bombardier and De Havilland Canada Regional Jets and Props continuing to sell steadily. Russia was experiencing difficulty penetrating the airliner market with new products in the face of Western-built models and most Soviet-era jets had by this time been withdrawn/scrapped.

2013

The situation with Airbus and Boeing remained the same as noted in the most recent yearly editions above, although Boeing was once again experiencing issues with the 787 which had led to it being temporarily grounded. The detail regarding regional airliner manufacturers also continued in the same vein. The editor noted that new build Twin Otters were being sold by Viking Air and RUAG were producing Dornier DO-228s. Cessna Caravans were selling strongly and Pilatus were endeavouring to keep up with the large number of orders being recived for their PC-12. Niche products such as the Quest Kodiak, GippsAero Airvan and Pacific Aerospace 750XL were finding good markets with airlines operating from remote areas.

2014

2014 was the centenary anniversary of the first scheduled commercial flight. The editor sensed cautious optimism that the commercial aviation sector would be able to sustain its current revenue and earnings growth. These would be reinforced by continuing high production levels at front-end and supply chain providers and would be driven by the twin forces of obsolete aircraft replacement by more fuel-efficient types and continued increases in passenger and freight traffic. Commercial Aircraft production was expected to increase by around 10% on existing rates over the following ten years. Other developments of the previous year were repeated as either continuing or expanding in this introduction.

2015

The 2014 introduction was more or less repeated in full in the 2015 edition, with the additional note that the ability of the fledgling Chinese airliner industry to make any serious headway remained questionable, although its long-awaited CACC C919 170-seat twinjet airliner was about to make its maiden flight.

2016

Airbus had outsold Boeing by 1007 orders to 742, although both manufacturers were significantly down on their 2014 totals. Neither manufacturer had been able to produce new aircraft fast enough to satisfy demand. Airbus introduced the A350 into service but introduction of the A320NEO was put back to January, 2016. Development of Bombardier's C series (later to become the Airbus 220) was bailed out by the Quebec Government to the tune of $1 billion. Japan's Mitsubishi MRJ entered the 70-90 seat twin-engined regional jet market. In Latin America LAN and TAM merged and Transaero went bankrupt in Russia. The first confirmed piece of wreckage from MH370 was found on Reunion Island and the suicide by the pilot of Germanwings 9525 by deliberately crashing a fully-laden A320 into the Alps had activated a series of changes in cockpit and cabin crew psychological assessments.

2017

The mid-term prospects for the airline industry had not diminished during 2016, driven largely by low oil prices. In the introduction to the 2017 edition, we are given a detailed run-down of Airbus and Boeing orders and deliveries including 49 A350-900s and the A320 achieving its highest ever annual production rate of 545 units and 607 orders (including in that figure 561 NEOs). A380 production was starting to be scaled back. Boeing delivered the 500th 787 Dreamliner  and the first flight was made by the Boeing 737 Max 8. Development of the 777X commenced. Bombardier brought both the C100 and C300 to the market and Embraer their E190-E2. Russia's Sukhoi SSJ-100 was experiencing flat sales. In China the ARJ-21 entered service with Chengdu Airlines. First flight of the C919, however, was delayed to 2017.

2018

2017 had witnessed continued strong passenger growth, with a 7.5% year-on-year increase in worldwide air traffic passenger demand. In July, 2017, 90% of the world's most in-demand flights had been in the Asia-Pacific region, with no routes from Europe or the Americas making the top twenty. As well as a recovery for cargo traffic, it had also been the safest year ever for commercial flying, with Airbus and Boeing continuing to set the pace with eye-watering production rates and back order numbers. Growing numbers of Boeing 737 MAX and A320/A321 NEOs were being introduced and an interesting competition between the A350 and 787 was developing. Low cost carriers were starting to move into the domain of the long-haulers. Ryanair shockingly had run out of pilots for a period in 2017! The situaton with the Embraer and Sukhoi regional jets remained the same as the previous year and only a few COMAC ARJ-21s had been delivered. The Bombadier C series were experiencing steady deliveries.

2019

The editor felt that 2018 would probably be remembered primarily for the crashes of the Lionair and Ethiopian Airlines 737MAX aircraft resulting in the grounding of the entire fleet while Boeing modified the Manoeuvering Characteristics Augmentation System software. We were provided with the usual summary of Airbus and Boeing deliveries, which by this time included 22 Airbus A220s (formerly Bombardier C100/300s) and the 400th Tianjin-built A320. Embraer and Bombardier were still delivering notable amounts of regional jets and props. Three of China's C919s were now flying but Japan was still working to improve the MRJ70's operational efficiency. The number of long-haul destinations being served by budget airlines were increasing, with the strongest growth in this area being seen in China and India. Air new Zealand had won the 'Best Airline of the Year' award and Korean Air the 'Best Economy Airline' award with the wide and spacious seating in their A380s, 777s and 787s.

2020

The 2018 grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX had continued through 2019 with deliveries of new aircraft being suspended. Production had reduced to 42 units per month and was due to be temporarily suspended from January 2020.  Mainly due to the MAX issues, Boeing had only managed to deliver 375 new aircraft in 2019 against 861 delivered by Airbus, which included 551 A320 NEOs and 112 A350s. The Dash 8 program was bought from Bombardier by Longview, reviving the de Havilland Canada manufacturing name.  ATR had sold 72 new aircraft and gained 52 new orders in 2019. Sukhoi's Superjet continued to struggle with sales outside Russia and COMAC delivered 12 ARJ-21s. Easyjet and Ryanair continued the widespread re-registration of aircraft to other European jurisdictions following Brexit. The following carriers had gone bankrupt in 2019: Thomas Cook, FlyBe, Germania, Aigle Azur, Adria, WowAir, Jet Airways and Avianca Brasil. Both the number of accidents and fatalities were down on the previous year. Very brief mention is made of the first COVID lockdown in China (January, 2020) in the final paragraph.

2021

2020 would be remembered as the year when most airlines suffered 70-80% reductions in passenger load factors as COVID 19 lockdowns of varying severity and duration proliferated at different times depending on the virulence of the pandemic in each country and the effectiveness of government actions in attempting to control it. 17,000 aircraft (two-thirds of the global fleet) were grounded by the end of April. Although most of the national airlines struggled on with national government bail-outs, it was anticipated that it would take some years before profitability would be regained. It was forecast that some major airlines would disappear without additional funding. Major carriers took the opportnity to remove older aircraft from their inventories, either by scrapping them or selling them on for freighter conversion. The Boeing 737 MAX stayed grounded until the end of the year when Boeing reached a $2.5 billion agreement with the US Justice Department to settle criminal charges that two of its employees had decieved the FAA Aircraft Evaluation Group about safety issues connected with the two fatal 737MAX crashes, included in this figure $1.77 billion to 737 MAX operators. Boeing only managed 157 new aircraft deliveries in 2020, which was the lowest figure since 1973. Issues continued with the 787 programme in the form of inspection and fixing of manufacturing defects.  In comparison, Airbus mamaged 566 deliveries. Dash-8 production was expected to be concluded in mid-2021. Russian, Chinese and Japanese jet airliner deliveries and development programs remained extremely slow.

2022

2021 continued with a pandemic-related reduction in passenger load factors for airlines worldwide and at the time of writing of the 2022 edition's introduction, global financial support for airlines had exceeded $240 billion since the start of COVID. Global passenger numbers grew by just below 30% during 2021 to 2.3 billion, but this was only half of the pre-pandemic 2019 figure. With airline balance sheets severely curtailed, the importance of lessors increased and the scrapping of older aircraft continued apace. Boeing delivered 340 new aircraft (81% of these being 737NG/MAX) and Airbus 611 (89% of these being the Airbus A220/320 family). Embraer delivered a respectable 141 E-jets. The final Bombardier CRJ was delivered in February, 2021. ATR production began to recover. A total of 30 Sukhoi Superjets were expected to be delivered to Russian customers in 2022 with total deliveries now exceeding 200. COMAC in China had managed to deliver 60 ARJ-21s. The Irkut (Yakovlev) MC-21 made its debut at the Dubai international Air Show. The Mitsubishi Spacejet was finally cancelled.  Encouraging results were published from trials of 100% sustainable aviation fuel used by an A350 powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.

2023

The February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was not mentioned specifically in the introduction to the 2023 edition of 'Airline Fleets' apart from a general comment on 'unexpected events' but number 11 of the explanatory notes entitled 'Ukraine Invasion' stated the following (quote): "The consequences of this are many, including airlines having to re-route around Russia and the conflict zone itself. Russian operators are able to fly outside Russia to countries with no travel sanctions. Non-Russian companies who had leased aircraft to Russian operators found their aircraft confiscated and re-registered to Russia. We have absorbed these particular changes up to the February 15th cut-off date although the data will be incomplete and may be subject to error at source." The introduction informed us that 2022 had witnessed a continuation of the positive progress in passenger traffic which began in 2021. Worldwide passenger traffic rose 64.4% compared with 2021, reaching 76.9% of the December 2019 pre-pandemic total. Boeing delivered 418 new aircraft and at year end had over 4,500 orders outstanding. Airbus managed 661 deliveries with over 6,400 orders outstanding. Both Boeing and Airbus blamed supply chain problems for their under-performance. Embraer made 159 regional jet deliveries. As Russia began its gradual change to a war economy, airliner production here took a rapid backward step in 2022. Only 8 new Sukhoi Superjets and 2 refurbished ones were delivered and the MC-21 deliveries were put back until at least 2025. Comac in China reached its 100th delivery milestone in December.

2024

By 2023, worldwide air traffic had recovered to 94.1% of the 2019 pre-pandemic total. Airbus delivered 735 new aircraft and Boeing 528. Airbus had an incredible production backlog of 8,598 aircraft! Quality problems with 737 MAX aircraft had continued to plague Boeing. On 4th January, 2024 there had been an emergency exit door plug blow-out, causing immediate depressurisation, but thankfully a safe landing with no casualties. The FAA had grounded 171 MAX 9 aircraft with identical door plugs. Embraer delivered 64 E-Jets, ATR delivered 40 ATR-42/72s and COMAC delivered 21 new ARJ 21s Three C919s were in service with China Eastern by the end of 2023, with over 1000 believed to be on order for Chinese airlines. Airbus continued to have a flourishing A320/A321 production line in Tianjin. The introduction finishes with information on research underway to see how the number of contrails produced by jet airliners could be reduced to facilitate the lowering by 2% of humanity's contribution to global warming. The industry was looking at possible ways to avoid the 'ice supersaturation levels' where contrails formed by tweaking flight plans to keep clear of them.

2025

Worldwide passenger traffic (measured as revenue passenger kilometre) had finally exceeded the 2019 pre-pandemic total, growing by 10.4% compared with 2023. Airbus had delivered 766 new aircraft with the order backlog at the end of 2024 standing at 8,658. Boeing had delivered 333 with a backlog of 5.595. Boeing continued to suffer various woes. In addition to the 737 MAX 9 Door Plug issue mentioned under '2024' which resulted in the 24 day grounding, a 57-day machinists' strike compounded Boeing's reduced delivery rate, already affected by continuing industry-wide supply chain delays dating from the pandemic. A further $243.6M fine also had to be paid in relation to the two 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018. Embraer E-Jet deliveries increased to 73 and ATR delivered 35 regional props. The ARJ-21 was rebranded the C909 and COMAC delivered a further 35. 16 C919s were in service with Chinese airlines and the Chinese-Russian collaboration known as the CR929 had been cancelled and replaced by a 'China only' development known as the C929 - a 280-seat 12,000km range wide-body twinjet. Finally, we learn of a further possible replacement for oil-derived fuel in the form of hydrogen, although Airbus was not looking to develop a hydrogen-fuelled commercial aircraft until the middle of the following decade. Sustainable Aviation Fuel remained a challenge as it was not yet possible to produce it in sufficient quantities.